White, who spoke to reporters following a pre-event news conference in support of UFC 158, wants to schedule a meeting with Cruz in Las Vegas to talk about the champ's future. Cruz hasn't fought since October 2011, when he made his second title defense against now-flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson.

In the meantime, the UFC has crowned an interim bantamweight champion, Renan Barao, who defended his title this past month against Michael McDonald.

The promotion could strip Cruz of his undisputed title and give it to Barao. Whatever is decided, though, White said it needs to be done soon, as much for Barao's sake as for Cruz.

"We've seen in the past, you can't sit around and wait for guys to come back or you will make no money and you'll be out too long, yourself," he said of the interim champ. "So he's got to get out there and stay active. Every time this kid fights and wins, it benefits him financially and physically. You have to stay active as a fighter."

A torn ACL scratched Cruz's return at UFC 148, and complications from corrective surgery further delayed his recovery. This past month,
"Everybody wants a timeline as much as I do," he said. "I would like to say, 'In six months, starting today, I will be back.' I can't do that. It's up to my doctors. It's up to my physical therapists."

That uncertainty is the cause of White's concern. Although the UFC president expressed great respect for Cruz, he admitted that no champ had ever been sidelined so long.

"This poor kid ... I've never seen anybody with more bad luck than Cruz, man," White said. "And for him, coming back into this division, you know the way the sport is to have been off for over two years."

White, however, wouldn't commit to a cutoff date for possibly stripping Cruz of the title. That decision will be made behind closed doors, if at all.

"This is stuff that needs to be talked about with him, and even if I had a decision about him, I wouldn't say it here," White said. "He deserves the respect to come out to Vegas and sit down and talk about it."

03-15-2013, 04:12 AM

trustkill

Reading between the lines here, but I think the plan is to strip Cruz of the title. He needs to focus on his rehab, and probably shouldn't be fighting Barao fresh off an injury. They'll work up a plan so that he can save face, but in all honesty he would have no reason to be ashamed by voluntarily giving up the belt. The assumption is he regains #1 contender status with a victory upon his return.

03-15-2013, 04:29 AM

tucker50

2 years is to long to be sitting off, especially with 2 big knee surgeries in that time. He is going to need at least 1 warm up fight before Barao, maybe more. So I say if he's still going to be off for more than 6 months they should make Barao's belt the real thing.

03-15-2013, 07:56 AM

roaddawg

Im surprised noone is bitching about him holding up the title shots.

03-15-2013, 08:32 AM

Spyke

Quote:

Originally Posted by roaddawg

Im surprised noone is bitching about him holding up the title shots.

He isn't really holding up title shots as long as Barao is defending the interim belt.

03-15-2013, 09:19 AM

macewen

he'll probably never be the same. hope he comes back strong.

03-15-2013, 09:59 AM

sikk

UFC should have some sort of default time frame for title defenses. 2 years is ridiculous without a defense and holding others in the division back. I'd say once a year at minimum for a title defense or something. I'm a Cruz fan too but man, if I were in his division I'd be pissed.

03-15-2013, 07:19 PM

0mega1

Quote:

Originally Posted by sikk

UFC should have some sort of default time frame for title defenses. 2 years is ridiculous without a defense and holding others in the division back. I'd say once a year at minimum for a title defense or something. I'm a Cruz fan too but man, if I were in his division I'd be pissed.

If you cant defend your title in one year time then you should be stripped of that title; once you're healthy enough to compete then your first fight can be for the title.

03-15-2013, 07:27 PM

Masscore

I have never agreed with stripping the champ due to injury unless you are not sure he will ever fight again ala Frank Mir. Cruz will fight again and before the end of 2013, so why strip him of the belt now? Barao is defending the interim belt so it isn't holding up any title shots and when Cruz is back he will be fighting Barao regardless if he is stripped or not. Plus he got hurt in June 2012 so it hasn't even been a year yet. If it wasn't for TUF he would have fought Faber in April or May and this would have been a mute point.

Finally, the one year rule is horrible. If we played by those rules Aldo and GSP would have been stripped.

03-15-2013, 07:30 PM

trustkill

Quote:

Originally Posted by sikk

I'm a Cruz fan too but man, if I were in his division I'd be pissed.

I don't understand your logic. Why would anyone in the division be pissed at Cruz? If a contender thinks they're good enough to fight for the title, they should call out Barao, not Cruz. If anyone should be pissed it's Barao because his belt has the "Interim" qualifier attached to it. And I think that's about to change, judging from this article. I'm sure that Barao gets all the perks associated with being a champion, or at least he should.